Errors in TN post graduate medical admission merit list spark outrage

Errors in TN post graduate medical admission merit list spark outrage

Pushpa.Narayan@timesofindia.com 18.11.2024 

Chennai : The state selection committee released the state merit list for postgraduate medical admission, loaded with errors, on Sunday with a disclaimer that it was prepared by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences and hence the board “may be contacted regarding any clarification in state rank list.” Some students with higher scores were ranked below students with lower scores on the management quota list. Similar variations were seen on the all-India quota and the state quota lists. “The list is extremely confusing. It reminded me of the NEET-UG 2024 scorecards where some students got the impossible 716/ 720 as NEET marks,” said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam. 

“A student placed five ranks below another student in the state quota rank list was placed five ranks above the same student in the management quota list. This defies logic. No incentives were given to these students as they are nonservice candidates. I spotted at least 38 such variations between state and management quota,” he said.

NBE conducted NEET-PG in two batches on Aug 11 and declared results on Aug 23. The results came in percentiles instead of individual scores. This made it difficult for at least seven states including Tamil Nadu, which offers additional marks as incentives to in-service candidates. Tamil Nadu wrote to NBE seeking normalised marks so it could add incentive marks for counselling. This request was denied by the NBE. After discussions with the National Medical Commission, the apex body regulating medical education in the state, and NBE, it was decided that the NBE would release the merit list using incentive marks provided by the states. A fortnight ago, the state selection committee sent service incentive percentages (up to 30%) for all in-service candidates based on years of service and terrain to the national board. The state has already raised concerns about the discrepancies with the board.

 “Revisions had errors too. That is why we released the list with a notice to candidates,” the official said. 

Students and parents are fuming. “The state is as irresponsible as the centre. They released the notice only because they knew there were discrepancies. They should have fought for the scores or moved the court instead of washing their hands away,” said Manikandan R, whose nephew is awaiting MD/MS admissions this year.